Journey
by FaddishMass
Summary: AU! Where Nel is a wandering Arrancar with amnesia who stumbles into a city facing both internal and external crisis. She will team up with the Princess of the Kingdom and embark on a Journey to Find her past secrets and help protect her new home. Nel x Yoruichi (unlikely to have lemon as i'm bad at writing it)
1. Arena

**Okay this is basically a rehash of Kinship which I was doing a few months ago. I had a kind of crossover thing with Dragon Quest going on too, I'm not sure if I will keep it that way but I don't want just hollows to fight on this adventure but at the same time no one really plays Dragon Quest so most of the time no one has any idea what I'm talking about. **

** If you've read this last time you know the deal, Shinigami aren't dead souls they are just 'Magical' humans, Nel will have amnesia like last time and she'll be an Adult who can change into a child rather than a child you can change into an adult… People who aren't familiar with my writing style it's this: I write in 3****rd**** person but from a perspective and when I change perspective it's usually marked by these ***Change***. Also the author's notes are always in bold and the story is in the normal text…**

Nel found herself panting slightly as she climbed another dune. This desert was a horrific nothingness, no life at all. When she'd stumbled from that massive jungle into this desert she told herself that shed eventually find something interesting. She couldn't remember anything about her life, a mask on her head resembled that of a hollow but what kind of hollow could pull off its mask?

The searing winds made her ragged cloak flap as she stood at the crest of the dune. Her general appearance was that of…she sighed. What kind of character was she supposed to be portraying? A scar down her face made her look like a veteran of some kind of war, a red birth mark of some kind made her appearance even more peculiar. A month ago when she'd woken up with a painful slash on her face and a throbbing sore head she'd held a sword a sword in her hand. It was a regular katana but within…it held something powerful. How could she release it? She didn't know.

Her alert brown eyes finally stopped scanning the horizon, content that there was nothing worth looking for she continued. Staggering through the sand which threatened to trip her with every step she considered the possibility that she might not see the other side of this desert… The orange dunes, despite being desolate, were quite the sight to behold, like someone had just taken a snapshot of a raging sea and changed the water to sand. Despite not remembering most of her life before a month ago she recalled reading somewhere that the desert wasn't actually unlike the sea. These dunes moved, they rippled like the sea, but they did it on such a miniscule timescale it was impossible to notice. The sun burned high in the sky and any bit of exposed flesh was burnt after a few minutes. The crystalline blue sky had no clouds, not even in the distance.

She climbed another dune and paused…what was this? A group of people, a camp of some kind. They all sat at the bottom of the dune which was nearly a hundred metres high. There were four of them, camels, water and food! These thoughts crossed Nel's mind before any kind of stranger danger kicked in and she threw caution to the wind and approached. The travellers noticed her when she was about halfway down the dune. They all stood and Nel noticed their body langue was rather threatening… Did humans do that? It seemed rather detrimental, what happens if someone stronger than them comes along and they start giving off hostile vibes?

"Gooday!" Nel said cheerily approaching them.

"You seem to have stumbled into the worst part of the desert!" one snapped brandishing his sword at her. Her smile faded and she stared at them. What had she got herself into now? "Now hand over any valuables, woman!"

"Are you guys bandits?" she asked "I've never met bandits before"  
>"Shut up and give up the loot!"<p>

"I have no 'loot' to give" Nel said shrugging "I on the other hand believe you guys have stuff I could take if you'd be so kind?"

"Just kill this idiot" another said.

The leader slashed toward her with his sword, the polished steel glinted through the acrid air toward her neck. Her hand instinctively pulled her own sword from its sheath and blocked it. Metal meeting metal filled the air with a loud clang and the Bandit widened his eyes. It wasn't everyday his strike was so easily blocked. Nel held her sword with one hand; she could easily hold his force back with one arm. She lashed out with her leg driving her foot into his stomach and with a groan he fell face first into the sand.

She turned quickly and backhanded another of the Bandit's goons, she spun with the force and a fine arc of blood sprayed from her mouth as she fell. She ducked instinctively when she caught a shadow moving behind her. She drove an elbow back into the third Bandit's stomach forcing him to groan and fall, like the other. The final Bandit was too caught up to realise he was the last conscious member of his troupe and Nel dispatched him with a quick kick to the side of his head which sent him flying into his tent but not before doing a ragdoll-like flip.

Nel sheathed her sword and smiled. "Job done!" she rifled through their supplies and helped herself to their food. Food…was strange, it filled her stomach and got rid of hunger but it didn't satisfy her, there was another hole that needed to be filled. Maybe she was a hollow, maybe the hunger was…her eyes drifted to the unconscious people on the ground…

She shook her head and mounted one of the camels. She'd taken liberty of their food and water…they could starve and dehydrate out in this desert for all she cared, she wasn't a kind person nor did she pretend to be. She kicked the camels side and it began to move, in a direction she wasn't sure would lead to salvation but this desert was really having a bad effect on her, she felt if she spent even another day in here she'd go completely insane.

So that was it…this was her life, trekking through the desert, the jungle; wherever on this godforsaken world she was it was beginning to feel fruitless. She continued on through, through the acrid winds, burning days and freezing nights and finally, when all hope seemed lost, her camel had died and she continued on, and on. An almost never ending journey that came to its desolate end one night a week, a month , a year after the bandit fight Nel didn't know. Salvation stood before her: A city, a complex maze of sandstone buildings and a palace at the centre. Some kind of magic lit the streets, they glowed slightly purple which the dust in the air making the entire city look like it was enveloped in a huge purple force field.

She stumbled toward the walls surrounding the city panting slightly. If her skin wasn't as hard as iron by now it would have been blistered and she'd look like she was melting but to the untrained eye she seemed in perfect health. She reached the huge gates built into the wall, two guards stood talking to what seemed to be a boy, but she could sense something about him, he was a lot older and a lot stronger than he looked. The guards finished talking to the boy and he turned to leave but stopped, his head turned to her and he stared at her for a few seconds before going on his way.

"Hi" Nel said donning her 'friendly' smile.

"What do you want?" one of the guards demanded. Now Nel could understand hostility at this point, these people had to guard a city full of defenceless people, now one really knew what was lurking about in these parts.

"Can I gain entry to the city?"  
>"Why?"<p>

"Because I'm tired, I need rest"

"Sleep in the sand outside" one said

"Should've packed a tent" the other added. These guys were starting to burn her wick down.

"Are you going to let me into the city or not?" she asked

"No" the other said "unless"

"Hmm?" Nel asked

"I noted the sword there, you could sign up for the Gladiator tournaments"  
>"Gladiator"<br>"Yes" he said, smiling slightly, he was clearly hiding something, she might look simple and sometimes act simple but she was far from it.

"Sounds reasonable" she said "sign me up". He smiled again

"Excellent"

Nel had been taken inside the walls, led to a huge circular building made from sandstone and decorated with partially eroded statues of people. Inside she was given more food, a bed to sleep in and access to water in order to bathe. There she inspected that hole again, the one on her chest, it wasn't large, in fact it was only really visible from her back as her breasts pushed together covered it. After sleeping in her bed she was woken, rather rudely, by some porter whom she wanted to punch. "Now!" The porter said tossing a kimono like garb at her "I will be your sponsor"

"Who are you?"

"My name is Kukaku Shiba" she said jerking a thumb toward herself, two things Nel noticed about her First: was the sheer size of her breasts and Second: was the fact she was missing an arm, how peculiar. "When you're quite done gawking get dressed fights in an hour and the whole Royal Family is gonna be there  
>"So why are you helping me?"<p>

"I really ain't" Kukaku said "every gladiator has to have a sponsor and since you're an Arrancar I reckon you could make me a pretty penny"

"Arrancar?" Nel said, that word…it sparked something within her own soul, she remembered something…the Cero. She glanced at her and splayed it, it glowed slightly. Kukaku didn't notice, she was too busy helping herself to grapes.

"Well" Kukaku said "if you don't remember; Arrancars came about a few years ago, a whole kingdom of them called Hueco Mundo, it's locked in perpetual darkness due to some kind of spell"

Over the next hour Kukaku explained a few of the coliseums rules which were understandable, she did lay a warning out that was: the gladiators can often be, psychopathic and very dangerous. Now that Nel had a roof over her head she wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do. Was she going to search for clues about her past? When she thought about it she felt sad, maybe her past had only pain an misery. Then again maybe living life within the confines of a city wall could be boring, she'd have to see. This was her second chance at life and maybe it was best to treat it like a butterfly emerging from a hazy chrysalis and continue onward without looking back.

Nel was eventually led through a cavalcade of hallways and out into the arena where the blood soaked sand reflected years of murderous blood sport, a crowd cheered in the seats surrounding the battlefield. Nel's eyes were drawn to a veranda decorated with silk and a symbol was emblazoned on a banner flapping above it. The purple colour scheme reminded her of the ambient light that she'd witnessed when she was approaching the city.

She spied a dark skinned woman, a man and a younger teenager. They were clearly the royal family. Was the woman the Queen, even from Nel's distance from her she could tell she was pretty. She turned back to the battlefield, about ten people lingered around, some were men, and some were women.

It was certainly a peculiar cavalcade of humans and…other. Her eyes drifted to something that clearly wasn't human. It floated about a foot off the ground and it was shaped like a cross between a dog and a monkey, its fur was white and its ears and the tip of its tail was tinged blue. She'd seen something similar out in the desert, it had hadn't seen her as she'd hid when she saw it but this thing was clearly from the same species.

"People of the Arena!" a loud voice boomed. Nel quickly identified it as a man on a kind of podium on the side-lines. "Now the time has come, who will stand victorious: above even the most vicious of the captured monsters in the dungeons we have Pazazu who right now is being kept docile by our Kido Corps but once he is released blood will flow!"

"This is slightly barbaric" she muttered looking back at the monster. "What have I gone and got myself into now" she had assumed all she'd have to do was knock some people around maybe take a life but this was slightly over the top.

"Now…shall we begin?" the announcer said. The pressure in the arena seemed to drop slightly as the Kido Corps released the beast from its trance. It took a second to take in its surroundings as a large man with an even larger axe rushed toward it. The beast itself was about two metres from head to tail. Once he reached the beast he swung that axe. The creature loosed a roar, a roar infused with pure magic. The man's flesh exploded outward leaving a single skeleton standing. The beast was already moving to its next target, with a flick of its tail a man was bifurcated, blood sprayed uncomfortably close to Nel.

She'd have to compose herself; this creature would have her if she didn't kill it first. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled and she instinctively grabbed her sword and pulled it from it's sheath. Just in time too, the blade collided with a woman's smaller dagger like blade and she ever parried it making her lose balance. She swept the woman's legs then placed her foot beneath the woman and flicked her toward the beast which rushed at them. With a swipe of its hand the woman was sent in a shower of blood and limbs flying into the wall at the far end of the arena.

Nel took the distraction to power up a Cero, the violet ray charged in an instant and she pointed her spayed palm at the beast and loosed her Cero point blank into its face. The energy contained within the cero ruptured outward sending her flying back but she managed to stay on her feet. She narrowed her eyes. What was it she'd done earlier? Sensed that woman? She thought about how she did it and tried it again this time focusing on the cloud of smoke left by the cero blast.

…hmm. Gah! She jerked sideways as a stream of fire exploded toward her from the smoke. She rolled several times and stayed crouched as the monster burst from the smoke, she'd visibly harmed it, its left eye was pretty much gone, along with the ear on the left side of its head and most of its fur was matted with blood which trickled down its body turning white to red. Nel glanced left, then right. It was only her and this beast left; it had made shockingly short work of the other competitors whilst she'd fought that woman.

Her eyes went back to the creature and their eyes…eye met. It regarded her with hatred. It opened its mouth baring a maw of razor like fangs. It let out a growl that Nel realised, slightly too late, was actually some kind of spell. It began to glow a bright orange, the light seemed to form around it like an aura. Nel readied her guard as the creatures aura began to shift and ripple, from it orange light streaked toward her. Nel slashed with her sword; deflecting one of the magical bolts into the wall where it exploded with a rather powerful blast. She dodged another, rolled out of the way of another after that and raised her hand. It pulsed red and an attack she had never even knew she could do collided with the final light ray in an explosion which left a little mushroom cloud rising between her and the best.

She began to run, toward the beast. It took her bait and ceased to drift, it ran, as well, along the ground. When she got close enough she jumped and twirled slashing with her sword as she pirouetted. The creature let out a shriek as it's arm hit the ground. Blood sprayed from the wound. Nel turned and took an extra second when charging another Cero. The creature let out another of those magical roars as she loosed her Cero and it was completely enveloped by purple light.

Was it incinerated? Nel wondered waiting for the smoke to clear she cocked her head slightly as if she were listening to something; she found this helped her detecting ability. She couldn't sense the creature in the smoke. Her eyes widened as she felt its magic rise again behind her. She swung around in mid slash. Claws raked up her front making blood spray from her arms, stomach and chest. Her sword had found it's mark though, the creatures head was flung from its shoulders. The sweet taste of victory was soon made bitter by the loss of so much of her blood. Quickly her vision grew dark and her limbs obeyed her no longer.

Her energy drained away quickly and the need to sleep took over and darkness rushed in as the crowd cheered. Somewhere in her blurred thoughts she wondered what she had won as a prize. She'd find out when she woke up…if she woke up.

[End of Chapter 1]

**Anyone read this before? Is it an improvement from the previous chapter one because I like it, it was a little brutal during the fight and I'll probably have to put it up to an M rating just for that, no problem though Next chapter coming *mumble*day!**


	2. Yoruichi

**I actually wasn't going to continue this but what the hey, someone seemed to like it and you know me #DoingItForTheFans. **

Yoruichi truly detested the Coliseum, it was completely barbaric and the day she gained the throne would be the day the coliseum has its last match. The Shihouin family had ruled over their prosperous Desert Kingdom Rukon for almost a thousand years and looked set to lead for another thousand after it provided either Yoruichi or her sister Hikaritome marry a worthy man to bear children. In Yoruichi's situation…she couldn't see this happening in the immediate future.

She idly watched the young woman who'd killed Pazuzu get carried off the arena. The reward of 200 Gold coins would be waiting for her when she woke up…if she woke up. The second round currently raged, nothing special was happening, no one had really expected to see Pazuzu get killed by a first time competitor so there was a degree of stunned silence around the arena. "So" came a voice beside her, not many people were allowed to approach a Royal Family member besides a Noble. Yoruichi turned to the woman who'd spoke. Kukaku Shiba, despite not looking or acting like a Noble she was, her influence in the city tended to be a bit lower than normal with the Shiba clan owning, Gambling, Opium dens and of course Fireworks.

"Kukaku" Yoruichi said relaxing slightly, she enjoyed her company, she was down to earth which served as Yoruichi's grounding rod too, these aristocrats, sultans and Pharaohs from neighbouring lands tended to make her lose her touch on reality.

"So did you see my fighter?" she said  
>"The one that slayed the monster?"<p>

"Yeah" Kukaku replied smiling slightly "an Arrancar"

"I noticed" Yoruichi said "tell me you felt how strong her Reiatsu was, that's Espada level"

"Nonsense" her father snapped rather rudely eavesdropping on their conversation"

"An Espada is supposed to be stronger than one of the Captains, I could barely feel her power"  
>"That's because it was only seeping through the Kido barrier made to protect the citizens from awry magical spells" her sister quipped. Yoruichi and her sister both owned two different sections of Rukon's military with Yoruichi running the Stealth Force and her sister running the Kido Corps, she knew more about Kido than anyone else… probably. She was only seventeen too, she and that Captain from Squad ten were prodigy's.<p>

"Anyway" Yoruichi said standing up and walking with Kukaku. It was a bit of a Fuax pas to leave an event before it was over but no one really noticed Yoruichi, it was the King they cared about. She adjusted her garb as she walked; it was basically a Kimono with a lot more layers, if she hadn't had a Kido infused Ice crystal necklace resting against the skin of her chest she'd probably be over heating by now. Her guard followed. "What you will do with the warrior, she'll probably be snapped up by the Gotei"

"An Arrancar in the Gotei?" Kukaku said "I don't see it happening they are too proud"

"So if she isn't recruited by the Gotei what will happen to her?"

"Probably disposed of" Kukaku said "you know, that Hollow law counts for Arrancar too"

"Well that sucks, poor wench"

"She doesn't have to die" Kukaku said "you could easily take her into the Stealth Force"  
>"Quite the suggestion"<p>

"Thank you"  
>"A suggestion you wouldn't make unless you had something to gain from it?" Yoruichi continued as they left the Coliseum and walked idly down the cramped streets lined with people basking in the shade or even trying to gain some unsavoury courtship for the price of a few silver coins.<p>

They turned and strolled into a wider street which was a bazaar, the occasional Palm tree lined the street as they bustle of human life filled the atmosphere. Yoruichi idly looked from stall to stall; maybe there was something worth buying. "You're being evasive" Kukaku said

"I don't know" Yoruichi said "It all seems a bit wobbly to me, who even let an Arrancar into the city, where did the command come from?"

"Well apparently the guards let her in to do the Coliseum"

"That's a straight violation of guard codes" Yoruichi said

"Apparently Captain Hitsugaya was there"

"Was he now?" Yoruichi said, her hand glowed with Kido. She flicked it upward and the orb shot into the sky, no one even noticed it. A few seconds later the white haired boy wonder appeared beside her.

"You summoned me?" he said

"I did" Yoruichi said scowling at Kukaku who was using her ornate feather fan to cool herself of "break that and you pay for it" she snapped at her.

"Princess?" he said.

"Oh yes" Yoruichi said "have you noticed any strange goings on recently, abnormal lights in the sky, trouble sleeping, making peculiar decisions, manipulating guards to do your bidding in a plot to unleash an Espada level Arrancar loose in the city in hopes of killing the Royal Family?"

"I…What?" he said

"Strange goings on" Yoruichi said "noticed any?"  
>"I notice weird things all the time but whenever I report them no one cares"<br>"What like?" Yoruichi said

"The water" Toshiro said "it was a shade darker than it used to be?"  
>"The year has progressed, the sun is in a different place"<p>

"No" Toshiro said "I can manipulate water on a scale you cannot understand, it has changed colour and per litre it is a hundredth of a gram heavier"

"Anything else?" she asked

"Just other stuff too small to notice but it's bugging me" Toshiro said "the people, seem uneasy these days"  
>"I noticed" Yoruichi said looking over her subjects as they milled around, there was a peculiar air of depression despite the city having a very small poverty demographic.<p>

"Well then you have nothing truly disturbing?"  
>"Well everything on its own is barely worth mentioning but as more abnormalities arise it becomes more and more disturbing"<p>

Yoruichi thought for a second. "Well keep this between us but continue investigating, I'll start poking around in the higher ups and Nobles"

"I will" he said before flickering out of existence. Yoruichi turned back to Kukaku.

"You never heard that conversation"

"Lips are sealed" Kukaku said "so where are we headed now in your investigations"  
>"Isn't it obvious?" Yoruichi said<p>

"I can't say it is"

***Change perspective***

Nel woke. pain filled her entire being making her groan. At least she'd survived which was good, through her bleary eyes she noticed a few people standing over her. She quickly rubbed her sleepiness away and stared at the people. She knew one as the woman who'd helped her come to terms with the coliseums rules. Kukaku Shiba, the other was someone new….Maybe not that new, Nel remembered her from the balcony.

"Good afternoon" the woman said. She had a voice like silk and it was laced with intelligence and power, she wasn't to be trifled with. "My name is Yoruichi" she added looking down at her with sympathy…fake sympathy.

"What do you want?" Nel asked. Yoruichi's sympathetic look disappeared.

"Espada level Reiatsu and intelligence, you're a dangerous commodity to have in this city" Yoruichi said "many people would rather you no longer breathe how can I convince them otherwise?"

"The confusing way you speak annoys me" Nel said narrowing her eyes slightly. Yoruichi said nothing but smiled slightly. This woman; she only looked like a Princess, in truth; she was a fighter, a liar and a murderer. She could see it like a mask she wore. Though; it wasn't all a shadowy layer of deceit, those mocha features played with the slightest tinges of playfulness and a longing for something, something she seemed to believe Nel could provide…oh dear! She hoped it was nothing unscrupulous!

Kukaku and Yoruichi looked at each other when Nel's cheeks reddened. Kukaku shrugged. Yoruichi sat down beside her. She seemed to be considering a different approach to take. "It's a peculiar thing to have someone like you appear at this time and this year"  
>"Why?"<br>"I don't know" Yoruichi said "is there anything you can tell me about how you found your way here, any internal voices telling you where to go?"  
>"No" Nel said shrugging slightly<p>

"You have a release?"

"What's that?"

"Then no" Yoruichi said sighing

"Maybe she's one of those special things like that wonder kid" Kukaku said. Yoruichi nodded and shot Kukaku a glance that could only be understood by someone who knew Yoruichi for years.

"Am I in some kind of trouble?" Nel said "if I'm too much trouble I'll just take my winnings and head on"

"I wish it was that easy" Yorucihi said "but the sands of fate didn't bring you hear for nothing, something else is afoot and you're not leaving until I find out what"

Yoruichi stood and tossed a metal medallion onto the bed "Congratulations, you've just joined the Stealth Force"

***Change***

Toshiro counted the steps five this time. He ran back to the beginning of the alleyway. He took five steps again. Back in the same spot. Or was he!? Was this real? What is going on! He sighed, of course his paranoid thoughts weren't showing on the outside. Outside he looked like someone walking up and down an alley way with a calm expression on their face. "Uh Shiro" came a soft female voice behind him. It was Momo, he'd felt her approach.

"What is it, Momo?" he asked

"What are you doing?" he turned to face her; she carried a bag of what looked like apples.

"I'm checking for disturbance within the fabric of the mortal plains"

Momo looked left, then right. "There's nothing wrong." She was a finely tuned Kido user, she could detect things almost as well as he could maybe she was right but he had been walking down this way about three hours ago and it had taken six steps and not five. He'd spent the next three hours repeating it until it happened again… it didn't. Maybe he was losing his mind slightly. Maybe Yoruichi had sown the seeds of doubt far into his mind. Now the shadows were out to get him! Especially that one to the left it seemed more sinister than the rest…

He sighed again. "Let's get some tea" he said ignoring his fruitless efforts. He strolled past her and stopped. He felt cold, he was the iciest person in the city but even he got a chill…that was definitely six steps. Momo stopped and stared at him. "What?" he asked

"Oh nothing" she said with a troubled look covered her face briefly.

"Tell me!" he demanded

"Something happened to your Reiatsu"  
>"What?"<p>

"As you know Reiatsu is exuded in waves, it's never constant, it fluctuates slightly" Mom said. He knew this but he humoured her "we'll yours…it repeated itself"

Toshiro grabbed his sword and nicked a tiny cut on the back of his hand and walked back to the start of the alley. He walked forward again. Five steps but that wasn't what worried him. The cut; it was gone. "A time rift?" Momo theorised

"How come after a certain time I take six steps rather than five"

"Allow me to explain!" a voice chimed above them.

"Princess!" Momo exclaimed bowing. Toshiro didn't have to bow but he preferred the honorific of it so he copied. The Princess shunpo'd beside them, she was almost as quick as her sister.

"Time and space are linked" Hikaritome said "this is not a Temporal Rend more of a high density Gravity Kido"  
>"Gravity?" Momo said<p>

"Yes" she replied rolling her eyes "the way this seems to work is the gravity is bent ever so slightly, but the heavier the gravity the slower the time goes, that's why at every three hours it resets exactly one second"  
>"The time it takes to take a step" Toshiro said "but why does it reset my body back to the time before I started walking down the alley"<br>"I'm not sure" Hikari said "I've got a funny feeling I know what this is"  
>"What?"<br>"A healing portal for invasion forces, there is a book in the archives that theorises a proficient Kido user could sneak into the territory of an enemy city and place several of these portals here and there. Then the invasion happens and any wounded soldiers go to these portals to heal themselves"

Hikari shrugged "it would explain the gravity, Kido is also affected by Gravity, and it makes it harder to sense. They were never fully integrated due to the chance of them being discovered and being used as ambush points"

"So we're being invaded!?" Momo exclaimed

"Not yet" Hikari said. She rifled inside her Kimono and pulled a necklace of keys from her neck. There were about twenty of them and they were made from different substances like wood, diamond, gold and even coal. She selected a ruby one. "I'm supposed to be opposed now this portal is closed" she said turning the key in mid-air. Nothing seemed to happen but Toshiro felt a slight niggling feeling in the back of his mind wear away. Hikaritome's Kido had successfully closed the portal.

"Go and report this to my sister" Hikaritome said to Toshiro "I'll look around for more portals and ask around. These were made by a Rukon trained Shinigami". Toshiro nodded and went on his way with Momo following. Hikari watched them for a few seconds then turned her attention to a shadow that seemed slightly darker than the rest of them. She scowled and then disappeared in a Shunpo.

The shadow seemed to writhe and a figure rose from it. Pure black besides one thing; a mask. A pure white mask.

[end of chapter 2] 


End file.
